Rebellion
by skankovich
Summary: Set in post-Cordyceps Australia, a young man born during the initial outbreak and his friends have ended up in a military-controlled quarantine zone. Gun control legislation in Australia has had the consequence of very few firearms being available to the public, and has caused widespread infection casualties. However, this young man has a plan...


**PROLOGUE**

**Adelaide, South Australia, 2015**

Pots clanged and glass smashed in the kitchen of a suburban Australian home as another family hurriedly gathered supplies before evacuation. The mother was panicking, and was putting everything she could find into a duffel bag.

"Spices… recipe book… coffee..." she muttered to herself. She threw aside a box of cereal to reveal a dusty silver flask.

"Huh," she mused, putting it in her jacket pocket.

A truck rumbled down the street, and a member of the South Australian Cordyceps Containment Taskforce repeated the prepared warning.

"This is a message from the Australian Government: prepare to evacuate immediately. For your own safety, we urge you to gather essential belongings and food only and move quickly to an established quarantine area. We repeat: evacuate immediately. It is no longer safe."

The mother's heart began pounding in her chest, and the baby began to cry.

"Honey, no," she cooed, "it's okay. Daddy will be home soon." The baby continued to cry.

The mother's phone began to ring, and she answered it immediately.

"Where are you, baby? It's getting dark."

"I'm on my way. I've picked up mum, but traffic is hell."

"Hurry, SACCT is knocking on doors."

"Fucking hell, Julia, I'm coming as fast as I can. I can't… fuck it, I'm going through the park."

"Be careful," Julia sighed, and hung up.

"See ya."

"There are people in there, Ben" she heard her mother-in-law object.

"Then hopefully they know how to run," Ben growled.

"They're not moving."

Ben paused. "Fuck," he choked, the colour draining from his face, "they're infected."

He accelerated, and one of the infected toppled over the bonnet of the family's SUV.

"Jesus," his mother screamed.

"What else could I have done?"

"No, not that, there's a girl in the tree! I don't think she's infected!"

"…there's nothing we can do."

"Just stop the car and get her. I'll drive around and back."

The car screeched to a halt, in a cloud of dust and mowed grass. "Fine," Ben growled.

Ben jumped out of the driver's seat and into a bush, and after a few seconds, the car began moving again. The remaining infected continued to chase the car, just as planned.

"Are you okay," he called up the tree.

"No," the girl sobbed, "I've been up here for days."

"What's your name? How old are you?"

"My name's Elise. I'm twelve."

"Okay… get down from there; I can get you to safety."

"My family, they're…"

"Infected. Quickly, we don't have time."

The girl climbed down, and the roar of the car's engine became audible again.

"As soon as the car is close, jump in. We'll only have a few seconds."

"Okay."

The car screeched to a stop next to the pair.

"Get in!"

Ben threw the girl into the back seat, and jumped in after her. Before he could close the door, a hand of one of the infected had grabbed his leg. He felt a searing pain in his left calf, and his heart sank. Silently and without thought, he kicked the infected off and slammed the door. He looked around. Nobody seemed to have noticed.

"Go!" he yelled.

The car sped off into the night, the group of infected clambering futilely behind.

The baby began to cry again, and woke Julia with a start.

"It's okay, baby," she cooed sleepily, feeling around the bed for her phone. It was almost 11:00pm. As she was about to curse her husband aloud, she heard their car pull up in their driveway. "Finally," she sighed, relieved, and headed for the door.

Ben hobbled through the door with his mother and a little girl.

"What took you so long?" Julia demanded.

"Traffic," Ben snapped.

"Who's this?"

"Her name is Elise," Ben's mother said hoarsely. "We found her in the park near my place. Her family are gone, and we couldn't just leave her there."

"We're heading to the quarantine zone first thing in the morning. It's just for a night," Ben said.

"Okay," Julia sighed, unconvinced. "The baby has been crying a lot today. He misses you."

"I'll sleep in there tonight, then."

"Sure," Julia replied, kissing his cheek.

Elise looked at Ben's leg, concerned. She stayed silent.

* * *

"Come on, we're going," Julia yelled, pounding on each of the bedroom doors, "where's Ben?"

"He's in with the baby, remember?" his mother yawned. "I'll get him."

"Sure," Julia smiled, picking up two bags of clothes. "Elise, can you help me take these out to the car?"

Elise was silent.

"Elise?"

"Your husband…" she began to sob.

"Elise, what's wrong?" Julia's heart began to pound again.

"I think he got bitten last night."

As Julia dropped the bags to run to her child's bedroom, she heard the muffled scream of her mother-in-law. Elise climbed under the bed and hid.

"Ben!" Julia screamed.

She ran through the kitchen and in the lounge room crouched her husband, crazed, chewing on his mother's neck. He looked up to meet her horrified gaze, blood dripping from his mouth. He let out a maniacal roar and launched himself at his wife. She screamed, and tripped over herself trying to run away. Within seconds, her husband tackled her to the kitchen floor, and was on top of her, gnashing his teeth, blood dripping onto her face.

"Ben!" she screamed again, crying.

Julia punched her newly infected husband's face, and managed to roll out from under him, searching desperately for a weapon. She grabbed a decorative katana she bought from her first trip overseas and plunged it into her husband's neck. He fell back, gurgling, and began to writhe around on the floor.

She clambered into the baby's room and picked him up. He was okay. She, however, was not. A bite that she did not feel at the time was beginning to sting. A purple, bloodied imprint of her husband's teeth was perfectly visible on her upper arm.

Crying, Julia prepared food for her child and put it in a small bag. She brought her child and the bag to Elise.

"Elise," she sobbed, "you can come out now. Everything is okay."

Elise was silent.

"I need you to take my son to the quarantine zone. I've packed some food. You can help yourself to anything here if you need it."

Still no answer.

"The men in the trucks will come again this afternoon. Just go to them and they'll take you there. Don't forget to feed him every four hours or when he cries. He needs one soon. Do you know how to-"

A headache and a rush of dizziness came over her. She began to weep

"Don't go into the shed."

Elise sobbed silently, and waited until Julia left. She crawled out and looked at the baby. He looked like an alien. She picked up a bottle and he accepted it hungrily.

Julia dragged her mother-in-law into the shed and closed the door. She opened a cabinet and pulled out a gun her husband kept despite the amnesty just under twenty years earlier. She remembered her husband telling her it was loaded and ready to go, and she prayed he was right.

She pointed the gun at mother-in-law's head and pulled the trigger. It worked.

She pointed the gun at her husband's head and pulled the trigger. It worked again.

She pointed the gun toward her own head and wept.

"Be good," she whispered.


End file.
